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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27814777">Variable Unaccounted</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaron5/pseuds/jaron5'>jaron5</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Other, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai/Dream (Avatar), POV Ozai (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar) is a Good Son and that's Bad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:35:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>548</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27814777</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaron5/pseuds/jaron5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ozai has a dream and realizes he miscalculated.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Variable Unaccounted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ozai has a dream. </p><hr/><p>
  <em> “My son.” His voice is even and controlled. Warm even. He stares down at the perfect top-knot. “Rise.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The boy gets up, his eyes just as gold as his. Too bad his pathetic firebending couldn’t match up as well, or he would have been a perfect heir, just like his sister.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “My Lord,” his son tries to imitate his controlled voice, but it’s infused with just a tinge of eagerness. When he looks up at him, his golden eyes are filled with admiration. Perfect.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I have a task for you, Prince Zuko.” He would have chosen Azula, but she’s reliable at the more subtle things, such as a secret infiltration into Ba Sing Se with her two lackeys. They’re not firebenders, so they are automatically low enough to be beneath his attention, but he had heard that one of them was a chi blocker, which was mildly impressive, and the other was an expert in marksmanship.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> His son forms the perfect flame. “I’m at your service, My Lord.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “The Avatar has returned. His years of cowardly hiding are over. Capture him and bring him to me in chains.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> His son bows lower. “As you wish, My Lord.” A beat. “Thank you for this opportunity, Father. I will not fail you.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> His son’s voice suddenly seems so far away, and the Throne Room distorts a little, and then there is an old man groaning pathetically near his feet.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Here’s the Avatar, Father!” His son sounds proud and happy. His own face twists into a pleased smile.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “You’ve done well Prince Zuko. Get some rest, and tomorrow we will go over some of the other tasks I have planned out for you.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> His son bows the perfect flame once more and walks out of the Throne Room. He smiles again, but this time the smirk is directed at the old, frail man before him. His son never failed to complete a task given to him. He had realized that when the boy was young. Azula, when tired, would try to manipulate her way out of an assignment given to her, but his son would try, try, and try until he mastered it completely.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He was right to keep his son at his side and milk all the potential in him, no matter how slow the progress was. The boy looked up to him and was blind to any faults his Father and Firelord had. His son’s adoration and hunger to please him would help him during his reign. It was worth the wait.  </em>
</p><hr/><p>Ozai wakes up, blinking at the white ceiling of his chambers. Every time he closes his eyes, he could see his lightning being redirected at him and purposefully striking the proud Fire Nation banner right above his throne. </p><p>Slowly a feeling slithers into his chest. After a few moments, Ozai realizes with a jolt that it feels like regret. He had always calculated his variables and used them to his full advantage or threw them away if they did not have any potential to do any good for him. </p><p>Zuko had been a variable he had cast away without a thought. He never realized he was wrong about that one. </p><p>In the cold night, deep in his chambers, Ozai realizes he had miscalculated. </p><p>
  <br/>
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</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I had a dream about this. It felt like some inception kind of thing haha. It was so weird, so of course, I had to write about it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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